Morning Coffee – June 10

“Reggie brings a fear factor. He’s a rugged player and a character player.”

Colangelo recalled his recent encounter with Chris Bosh when the GM told the franchise player of the need to acquire a player such as Evans. Colangelo, meanwhile, was not taken aback by Bosh’s statement that he would not sign a contract extension this summer.

“The intent is to build the team as if Chris is the cornerstone,” Colangelo said. “We have no intention to shop Chris Bosh.

“If a trade at any time makes itself available, whether it’s before the season, leading up to the trade deadline or in a sign-and-trade situation next year that makes sense, we’ll pursue it.”

The Raptors gain a financial advantage as the deal saves them $1.2-million in salaries this season and $1.5-million next year. Overall the Raptors will enter the free agency period after July 1st with $8.9-million under the salary cap and as much as $10.1-million depending on what they do with Quincy Douby and Patrick O’Brien.

It’s a significant amount of money in what promises to be a buyer’s market, and as Colangelo showed by dealing Kapono, he’s not about to take the Raptors struggles last season sitting down.

Dealing Kapono does not give the Raptors much more financial flexibility, though. Like Kapono, Evans is signed through the 2010-11 season, although at a slightly reduced price.

Evans is a very limited offensive player, but immediately becomes the Raptors’ best rebounder. Over his career, he has averaged 12.6 rebounds per 36 minutes. Chris Bosh, by comparison, has averaged 8.9 rebounds per 36 minutes.

Evans averaged 4.6 rebounds in just 14.4 minutes a game last year — his average per 36 was 11.4, which would have ranked second on the Raptors last year behind last-season acquisition Pops Mensah-Bonsu (14.1 per 36 in 19 games). Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh are extremely talented but undeniably finesse players. Evans, on the other hand, is the very definition of a gritty banger, outworking and out-muscling opposing big men in the paint despite frequently giving up several inches.

Perhaps, overlooked will be the impact of the departure of Reggie Evans who has become somewhat of a fan favorite in Philadelphia where hard working “blue collar” type players often endear themselves to fans.

Without Reggie Evans, the 76ers will be without one of their best rebounders, especially on the offensive glass. It is the opinion of this writer that Reggie Evans played a significant impact on changing the culture of the 76ers team.
Prior to Evans’ arrival, the 76ers were horrendously soft with the likes of Chris Webber and Samuel Dalembert down low.

Reggie Evans, despite his quirks, is a player who changed the flow of the game off the bench. He would grab rebounds where nobody else wanted to go. He’d play full court defense, help trap opposing guards, and never complain about his lack of touches.
In many respects he was a poor man’s Ben Wallace, able to affect games without scoring (although not as dramatically as Ben Wallace mind you).

“We are very excited to add one of the league’s most prolific 3-point shooters in Jason Kapono,” Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski said in a statement. “We feel that this move addresses our goal of improving our shooting from the perimeter.”

Stefanski and Kapono weren’t available for further comment because the trade is not official until both Kapono and Evans pass physicals.

But one of the criticisms of Korver is also true for Kapono in that they are not good enough defenders to stay on the court for 30-35 minutes per game. Kapono has never averaged more than 26.4 minutes.

Kapono shot only 42.8 percent last season for the Raptors, which, while below his career average, is better than any Sixer who played more than 10 minutes a game last year. Kapono made 98 three-pointers last season, 18 more than Andre Iguodala, who led the Sixers.

A week ago, the Sixers introduced new head coach Eddie Jordan, who brings with him the Princeton offense, a motion, cutting, passing scheme that works more efficiently when strong outside shooters – or in this case, a shooter – spread the floor.

If the Pistons want a cornerstone player at power forward, then Bosh needs to be who they focus on. After all, he’s three years younger, more athletic, more versatile, and also has a much more complete offensive arsenal than Boozer does. Wade and King James still seem like long shots, but Bosh really doesn’t. He wants out of Toronto immediately, and Raptors GM Brian Colangelo is going to be actively shopping him from now until the 2010 trade deadline. If the Pistons were smart they would be putting a package together on a weekly basis until Bosh is off the market.

Not to badmouth Kapono — he came in and did what was asked of him — but he didn’t really do anything to make the team better. His outside shot was as advertised (though he could’ve helped by taking more threes instead of 20-footers), but anything he added offensively was negated on the defensive end. In two seasons in Toronto, Kapono averaged 7.7 points and won one three-point shootout, though it didn’t translate to anything that counted for his team.

Through my scrounging I found this news and I HAD TO blog about it… All the annoying “Raptor’s fans” out there got really really irritating… and the “Brian-Colangelo-needs-to-get-fired” talk has to stop… What it is is what it is… BRIAN COLANGELO IS A GENIUS!

I absolutely love this trade. It’s been finalized but i haven’t heard a full press release yet on it… I really hope there are no strings attached (i.e. no picks or money added on to the deal)… Why do I love this trade? Well lemme break it down for you…

But this is actually a much more even trade than first glance would give you and when you look at the actual numbers, Reggie Evans is technically going to give the Toronto Raptors more than Kap will give Philly. Reggie’s PER (Player Efficiency Rating) over the last two seasons have registered at 11.0 and 10.4, respectively. Jason Kapono on the other hand has given the Raptors 10.8 and 8.9 in those years. Neither player will be doing a large amount of scoring with just 11.9 points per game scored between them over the last two seasons. So why does this trade matter if it involves two apparently non-essential role players?
This trade is more about the threat of these players than what they will actually give their new teams.

First let me say this deal came out of nowhere and it’s a beauty. Moving Reggie Evans player I projected not to see the floor next season for one of, if not the best catch-and-shoot three point shooter in the NBA. Could Stefanski have done any better – seriously? I guess this is the legit shooter he has been saying he will bring in since he got here and he did it by moving a player of little to no value to the Sixers going into next season. Well done. If money is going to be spent on a one-dimensional player this is the guy we would want it spent on. Stefanski probably bought himself a half a season free of criticism from many fans with this deal (and the right draft choice *cough* Ty Lawson *cough*).

Reggie Evans: A nice acquisition who brings grit, toughness and rebounding. Colangelo says he’ll be the first big off the bench and he expects 15 to 20 minutes each night from Evans. The deal saves the Raptors over $1 million per season.